A recent blog post from sci-fi/paranormal novelist Allan Krummenacker, highlighted his decision to postpone the release of his latest book, “The Vampyre Blogs – Coming Home”. Why did he do this? Simple – he had the good sense to realize that pushing the proverbial boat out and burning the two-ended candle just wasn’t going to give him enough time to finish the book to the standard he wanted.
Sounds like a sensible decision. Which brought to mind a few questions about my own planned publications dates:
- Are my deadline dates achievable?
Are the publication dates realistic?
Am I expecting too much of myself?
Well, the short answers are:
- Not sure.
Maybe not.
Absolutely.
Hmm.
My original publication date for the pre-order copy of ‘Mortlake’ (book 2 in my mid-range historical time-travelling series) was the middle of November. And yes, if I’d been able to stay on track with the thing, maybe that would have been fine, but since my particular style of writing is firmly set in the Land-of-Not-Planning, this means when the story sets off on a longer journey than I’d anticipated, it obviously adds another chunk of time to the work involved.
The tricky bit is, unfortunately, moving this deadline has an impact on my other deadlines, therefore adding another month to the ‘Mortlake’ release date, adds another month to the finish dates for my next book too. But that’s okay, since, as Allan says:
‘Timing your release and making sure the product is as good as it can be
is crucial to your book’s success.’
So when common sense prevails, the finished product will be the better for it. After all, writing the book is just part of the process – getting it ready for your readers is a whole other kettle of haddock.
So, now that ‘Mortlake’ is set to be released in mid-December, I’m feeling a lot less stressed and ready to make sure my book hits the virtual shelves when it’s properly finished. Of course, if I’d realized this earlier, I might have saved myself a bit of anxiety.
Cheers Allan.
Colin Garrow 